Families who bring their sick and injured kids to Children's come from across the country and world and from all walks of life. Many children have serious heart ailments, aggressive cancers, immune disorders and other rare diseases, and endure extensive hospitalizations.

"Long-term housing that provides a home-like environment helps families cope more comfortably with extended healthcare of their sick children," says Charles Weinstein, Children's vice president of real estate. "Boston's hotels can be too expensive for many of these families." Children's currently operates a 13-room house in a converted office building where patient families can stay at reduced cost or for free. The housing, however, is always full and the waiting list long. Too often, needy families like the Slone family from Connecticut are turned away.

After the diagnosis, Lori researched the condition and found that Children's Hospital Boston was a leader in treating kids with CDH. In fact, the hospital's Advanced Fetal Care Center's (AFCC) survival rate is close to 90 percent, while the national average is only 50 percent. Shortly after her daughters Bella and Lily were born, Bella was transported to Children's and immediately placed on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), an advanced technology that replaces a critically ill child's heart and lungs. She was then placed on a ventilator for more than 4 months to help support her lungs.

Slone stayed at the hospital's patient family home through Bella's four surgeries and seven month stay in the Intensive Care Unit. The family, including husband Chris, son Christopher, and Lily, has been back-and-forth to Children's in Bella's eleven months of life due to infections and other appointments. Lori says that Bella would not have survived without the amazing care from her surgeon Dr. Jay Wilson, and the AFCC and the Intensive Care Unit nurses and staff.

Children's Hospital patient family Lori Slone and her daughter Lilly.

Children's goal is to renovate the historic Victorian home on Kent Street--located just blocks from the hospital---and provide a larger home for patients and families. The renovated home will feature 21 bedrooms, shared bathrooms, common areas, kitchen, dining area and playroom as well as space for staff.

The Next Generation Developers Task Force, a group of young real estate developers and businesspeople, expressed a desire to use their talents as well as social and professional networks to make this project a reality. Not only are many of these young men and women rising stars in their fields, they're also deeply committed to philanthropy and Children's Hospital. Each committee member brings his or her own expertise to the project. Children's and the Task Force aim to raise $10 million to fund the renovation and start an endowment.

Children's acquired the home from Phi Gamma Pi, a former fraternity at Northeastern University, which lost its charter in 2006.

"We're thrilled to be able to help Children's meet its goal of providing more housing to the patient families who need it most," says Gene Carozza, Treasurer, Phi Gamma Pi Alumni Association. "This gift enables us to leave a lasting legacy in Brookline while helping to advance our organization's mission of providing help to various philanthropic causes."

For more information or to donate, visit www.childrenshospital.org/kentstreet.

Contact:
Amy Sweeney
617-355-4102
amy.sweeney@childrens.harvard.edu

History of the House at 241 Kent Street: The house was built in 1889 by Andrew Houghton and sits on a parcel of land containing 31,606 square feet. The architecture is characterized as the "Chateauesque Style"; Houghton also owned the A.J. Houghton Co. Vienna Brewery in Jamaica Plain, MA. The property was purchased by Phi Gamma Pi, a Northeastern Fraternity, in 1954. In 2007, Children's purchased the home from the fraternity, which lost its charter from Northeastern University in 2006. To ensure a positive legacy in Brookline, the fraternity's alumni members voted to sell the property to Children's at a reduced price. The Phi Gamma Pi Alumni Association intends to use the proceeds from the sale of the house to establish a philanthropic organization.